When I wrote about the demise of Leisure’s mass market paperback line in favor of e-books, I had no idea the terrible drama playing out behind the scenes. According to genre author Brian Keene, Dorchester/Leisure Books stopped paying royalties owed to their writers back in late 2009. Then, with the payment issues still unresolved, Dorchester suddenly announced they were switching to e-books format and shutting down the paperback brands. Now, with many of their former and current writers suffering because of missed payments and outright stealing of books the company no longer have rights to, Brian Keene is asking for all horror fans to boycott Dorchester/Leisure Books.
Brian Keene holds nothing back in a recent post on his website and judging from the comments many writers are rallying around his call for a boycott. Thanks to Dorchester’s non-payments Keene is currently broke and trying to hold on until new projects generate revenue. The company continues to illegally publish his novels in e-book form even though the rights to those novels reverted back to Keene earlier this year. And they still aren’t paying him for these little “mistakes” that keep popping up.
Keene is asking all fans of horror fiction to stop buying Leisure Books in the discount bins and on those fancy e-readers. All of the money made on those transactions is going straight to Dorchester. The writers won’t see a penny in royalties from those purchases. To find out more ways you can help in the boycott or to see how you can help your favorite horror writer during these incredibly bleak times check out www.briankeene.com for more details. Many of the writers suffering from Dorchester’s underhanded dealings are leaving comments and links to where you can order their books without enriching the company’s pockets.